REFLEX ACTION 219 



372. We may then, provisionally at least, divide all the 

 actions of living beings into, on the one hand, those which 

 are voluntary, and on the other, those which are reflex. To 

 sum up; voluntary actions originate in the immediate 

 presence or the prospect of future pleasures and pains. 

 From pleasure or pain, or the prospect of it, arise desire or 

 aversion, which in turn awakens the will. The voluntary 

 action follows. Reflex action may be associated with pleasure 

 or pain. It may even be initiated by one or the other. 

 When this occurs the feeling is always a spur to useful 

 voluntary actions as well as in the case of tickling when 

 the feeling causes the individual to take measures to protect 

 himself; the necessity for the voluntary action being the 

 true reason for the presence of the feeling. Reflex actions 

 are never initiated by the will, though they may be inhibited 

 by it. 



